Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Manufacturing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the dying days of the July federal election campaign, a desperate Prime Minister Turnbull assured Australians that they would 'absolutely not' pay any more to see a doctor, because of the Turnbull government's six-year Medicare freeze on doctor's MBS payments. The latest Medicare statistics show just how flaky that assurance was, with bulk-billing rates right across Australia falling. When bulk-billing rates fall, it means more out-of-pocket payments by patients or new co-payments are charged. Doctors warned—and keep warning—that doctors' fees will rise if the freeze is not lifted, but the Turnbull government continues to ignore them. Sadly, it will be low-income Australians, pensioners and the chronically ill who will be hurt most by the Medicare freeze, as statistics show that many of those people live in rural and remote Australia. They are already severely disadvantaged and have poorer health outcomes. The ongoing MBS freeze is an attack on Medicare. It is an attack that is hurting patients. The only person who misled Australians about Medicare in the election campaign was the Prime Minister, with his claim that patients would absolutely not pay more to see a doctor because of the government's Medicare freeze.